JOHNSON ALL REVVED UP FOR NEW GEN-6 CAR, NEW SEASON

After winning a NASCAR record five straight championships, the El Cajon native has gone two years without a title. Down the stretch last year, he slipped from first to third.

Has Johnson lost his mojo?

“We haven’t thought of it as a loss of momentum,” Johnson said recently. “When I think back to the five in a row and how really special that time was ... well, it didn’t happen the past two years for a lot of reasons and it’s tough.”

Well, a new season for Johnson — as well as a new era for NASCAR — dawns Sunday with the Daytona 500 and the debut of the Gen-6 car.

Johnson dominated the short era of the almost universally hated Car of Tomorrow. Will he be as strong in the new car?

The main goal of bringing the Gen-6 online was to re-establish the broken link between manufacturers, the fans and the cars that were once — and possibly again — the stars of the sport. The cookie-cutter COT offered no distinction between a Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Toyota.

But NASCAR also believes the Gen-6 models debuting at Daytona will be racier than the COT. There should be more side-by-side duels and less nose-to-tail bump drafting. The lighter and wider Gen-6 cars should also be harder to handle, raising the driver’s role in the equation.

Will Johnson miss the COT?

“No, and I mean no,” said Johnson.

While the engineers were working on perfecting the Gen-6 car during NASCAR’s short, three-month offseason, Johnson worked on himself.

Although he has been a jogger for years, using running as a way to take the edge off the demands of racing, Johnson competed in several competitive runs over the winter, including a triathlon in Palm Springs a day after last November’s NASCAR awards banquet in Las Vegas and last Sunday’s Daytona Half Marathon.

“I’ve just really stayed with my training program,” said the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Johnson. “I like structure. I like a routine. I know it’s good for me. Yes, physically it’s helping me.

“But there are a lot of mental aspects to training that are helpful, too. It’s not uncommon that I’m in the pool or on a morning run at 5:30 in the morning. I’ll hit the bike in the afternoon.”

Johnson, who has long enjoyed long runs through the infield or around the track on mornings of races, said he knows his training regimen is a vast departure from what the greats of NASCAR’s bygone eras might have done.

“Times have changed for sure,” joked Johnson. “I’m not sure anyone would have admitted to training back in the Allison-Alabama Gang era, or even the Dale Earnhardt era.”

The 37-year-old Johnson said he is looking forward to Sunday’s Daytona 500, which will double as the 400th start of his Sprint Cup career. In addition to the five championships, Johnson has 60 race wins and 248 top-10 finishes.

None of the wins was any bigger than the 2006 Daytona 500, which served as a springboard to his first title.